Old Age Is a Curse in India

Credit: Neeta Lal/IPSBy Pratima Yadav, Vani S. Kulkarni, and Raghav GaihaNEW DELHI, Aug 21 2018 (IPS)Old age morbidity is a rapidly worsening curse in India. The swift descent of the elderly in India (60 years+) into non-communicable diseases (NCDs e.g. cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) could have disastrous consequences in terms of impoverishment of families, excess mortality, lowering of investment and consequent deceleration of growth. Indeed, the government has to deal simultaneously with the rising fiscal burden of NCDs and substantial burden of infectious diseases. As a recent Lancet report (2018) points out, failure to devise a strategy and make timely investment now will jeopardise achievement of SDG 3 and target 4 of a one-third reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2030.NCDs are chronic in nature and take a long time to develop. They are linked to ageing and affluence, and have replaced infectious diseases and malnutrition as the dominant causes of ill health and death in much of the world including India. The four NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) share a set of modifiable risk factors: unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive use of alcohol and failure to detect and control intermediate risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and excess weight (Bloom et al. 2014).Of the 56 million deaths worldwide each year, 38 milli...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Asia-Pacific Development & Aid Headlines Health Population Poverty & SDGs Regional Categories Source Type: news